7 years and 50 days
by Jas13debi7
Summary: Sasuke likes Neji, but Neji, however, only treats Sasuke as his best friend, and tells him without that he likes Shikamaru, breaking poor Sasuke's heart. Itachi, who was following him, takes small vengences. ItachixSasuke.
1. Chapter 1

Yo, people! FIY, this writer, Jas13debi7 is a double-personed account (if you know what I mean) D And its owners have fanfiction accounts on their own; Winterblazewolf and Asphodel Winter. If you study our works individually, you will be able to find out who wrote which chapters. D FIY, I, Asphodel Winter, write consistantly short chapters while Winterblazewolf writes generally long ones. D so you can tell who wrote this chapter. D

Anyways, hope you like it! Review!

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Sasuke sat on his bed hugging his knees. Tears were silently rolling down his cheeks; a weakness he was determined no living soul should see… _or perhaps not Neji, or…_ A sharp snap followed by a dull thud sounded softly on his balcony. He gasped slightly in shock. He hurriedly wiped away the tears and stood up, grabbing a kunai along the way, and headed for his balcony stealthily.

He flung the door open to see… nothing. _There must have been someone…_ Sasuke's usual paranoidness kicked in. _Oh well… seeing as I don't know who… just have to hope it's not Naruto or some other dobe, but if it's Neji…_ Fresh tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes despite himself as he closed the door to the balcony once again.

The slit of light grew narrower as the young Uchiha closed the door leading to the balcony; the only source of light to the outside now was from the window. But that square of light did nothing to make an older version of Uchiha Sasuke more obvious. With skill, Itachi had hidden himself completely, watching his beloved younger brother crying. _I should not have let my emotions take control._ _I was careless._ He was thinking of the thud which, of course, he had made. He had gripped a neighboring branch so tightly that it had snapped and fallen onto Sasuke's balcony.

_This Neji…_

**Earlier that day…**

"Neji!" Sasuke shouted across the field, trying to catch up with the young Hyuuga. Neji looked back, his long, dark brown hair swinging around. A small smile broke as he saw his friend running toward him. "How come you get let off training so early?" Sasuke gasped as he caught up.

"Gai said something about letting us go early today to celebrate Youth Day or something. I'll bet it was some other crap he made up… and you needn't run, idiot. While I cannot wait for Naruto or some other idiot, I can wait for you," But by the time Neji had ended his speech, Sasuke had already recovered and was shaking an airy hand.

"Anyway… I have something to ask your advice for…" Neji's deep voice trailed off into nothing, starting to walk briskly again, this time with the raven haired ninja with him.

"What is it?" Sasuke was curious. He did not expect what he heard.

"I- I- You swear you'll still be my friend?" Sasuke blinked, trying not to show how disappointed he was by the usage of 'friend'. He wanted to be much more than Neji's friend… but how could he say it? He could only love in silence.

"A- Anyway… I- I…" Neji took a deep, steadying breath before saying quickly, "I think I like Shikamaru. No, wait, I _do_ like Shikamaru. There. I said it,"

Sasuke's mind numbed up immediately. He tried to keep a straight face, which was proving rather easier than he thought, as his mind was refusing to move. He could only look at the boy he loved and blink.

"You said you would still be my friend," Neji pointed out, mistaking Sasuke's emptiness to be disbelief. Sasuke blinked a few more times.

"I- Of course I'll still be your – your friend, Neji. I'm just surprised, that's all," Sasuke said the first thing that came to his blank head. Even in his sub-conscious mind, the statement sounded stupid. Neji, even without his Byakugan, sensed something wrong with Sasuke.

"Are you alright? You're not homophobe, are you?"

"Of course not, like I said, I'm just surprised," Sasuke let a smile play around his lips, letting his ninja skill of masking, this time to mask presence of emotion instead of a person, take control while his heart wept.

"So, what should I do?" Neji looked nervous as he said it, although he tried his best to hide the quiver in his voice. But he was fine with Sasuke hearing it. To him, the Uchiha was his best friend. Sasuke shrugged.

"Maybe just give him a few hints and see how he takes it? I don't know… it's kind of hard… anyway, I just remembered something I've got to rush up, see you, Neji," The raven-haired ninja jumped abruptly onto a nearby tree branch and disappeared, much to the surprise of his lavender pupiled _friend._

The tears started falling almost immediately after Neji was out of sight.

He touched the tears that had fallen to the ground. His black nails dug into the ground in pure, white anger. Uchiha Itachi loved his brother more than anything, and he hated seeing Sasuke getting hurt so badly that tears could be forced out of the emotionless façade. He hated seeing that Sasuke loved someone else. But originally, he would have been happy to let them have his dear brother as long as Sasuke was happy with them; his brother's happiness was what he cared most about, despite loving him in a way more than brothers should. But the Hyuuga had hurt Sasuke. Hurt him deep.

_What cannot be healed is an internal wound… Sasuke will have that wound of hurt in his heart forever… a scar that he will probably never forget…_ Itachi stood. _This Neji…_ His brow furrowed deeply.


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter is written by me, Winterblazewolf! I hope you have a fun time reading this. X)

The sun rising in the orange-pink signalled the arrival of morning.

Itachi sighed softly. He had not slept a wink the previous night from watching Sasuke. Speaking of which, who had not slept either.

'_I wish I know what you are thinking... then maybe I could help you,'_ he thought sadly, wishing Sasuke would trust him trust him once more.

He shook his head and rose from his crouching position on the tree. It would do no good for anyone if he was found sitting on a tree in Konaha. He doubted that anybody would not spot him seeing that it _was _morning.

He spared a last glance at the younger Uchiha and went off silently; going as quickly as he came. No one would know that he was there just a mere few seconds ago.

On his bed, Sasuke sighed as well.

He had spent the whole night thinking about what he should do now that he knew Neji liked Shikamaru. Part of him wanted to beat the latter up but he knew Neji would hate him for it. That was the last thing he wanted.

He had intended to tell Neji about his feelings sometime soon but his hopes crashed like a vase would when dropped on the floor when Neji told him about his own feelings.

After staying awake for the whole night, Sasuke had come to the conclusion that he should stay away from Neji. Avoid him in any way he can.

That way, he would not get hurt every time he sees the Hyuuga. He knew that by doing that the chance of Neji getting with Shikamaru would be higher since Neji would definitely feel lonely without him...

He just hoped that it was the right choice.

"I hope you won't hate me for doing this, Neji..." his whispered, voice horsed from crying.

He then went about doing his morning routine and went out with resolved determination to avoid the lavender-eyed shinobi at all cost.

OoOoOo

At the Hyuuga Household, Neji was training in the backyard alone. He was worried about his best friend. It was unlike him to run off so fast, even if he _did _have something important to do.

"Baka Sasuke, what's wrong with you?" he asked no one in particular as he walked out of his house.

He decided to just wander a bit around the village before going to look for his blue-haired friend and have breakfast with him.

Just as he was about to walk up the stairs to Sasuke's apartment, he saw the other shinobi making his ways down his stairs. His eyes were slightly tinted a shade of red and it looked sore.

'_Was he crying?' _Neji thought immediately, frowning slightly. Now, he was _really _worried for his friend. _'That paranoia-causing bastard... always making me worried...'_

Neji approached Sasuke, frown deepening when he realised the Uchiha did not realise he was there at all. As much as Neji knew, Sasuke would always realise it if someone was only about three feet in front of him. Yet, he did nothing but just continued on his way. It was as if he was in some sort trance!

"Sasuke?" he asked uncertainly. Sasuke just walked past him without as much of a reaction to acknowledge he was there.

Getting even more worried than he previously was, Neji tapped the younger boy on the shoulder, causing him to jump in shock and look around.

When Sasuke finally noticed Neji standing there, he sighed mentally.

'_And I wanted to avoid him...' _he thought dejectedly.

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Neji questioned, waving a hand gracefully in front of him.

He looked at Neji and smiled softly, "Yea, I'm fine."

"You don't look it..." Neji muttered, knowing full well the other boy could hear him. "Were you crying?"

"I'm really fine," he replied, still smiling serenely. "Why would I be crying anyway?"

Neji paused for a little while and Sasuke saw his chance to escape.

"I just remembered I have to go do something important. See you later, Neji," he said and ran off hurriedly.

Neji frowned in concern and annoyance. What was up with Sasuke nowadays? He would usually tell Neji what he had to do instead of just saying he had something important to do.

'_Could it be because of what I told him yesterday?' _Neji wondered, subconsciously praying it was not.

He shook his head after a few minutes.

"He promised he would still be my friend..." he assured himself, walking back to the Hyuuga estate, breakfast forgotten. "Friends don't lie... at least not him..."

Neji entered his house and decided to start training again since there was nothing else to do.

As he reached the training grounds, he felt something sharp poking against his skin. Wincing, he went back to his room instead.

In his room, he took off his shirt and shook.

Screws with sharp edges fell out.

**TBC **


End file.
